Azerbaijan eyes aiding Israel against Iran

(Reuters) - Israel's "go-it-alone" option to attack Iran's nuclear sites has set the Middle East on edge and unsettled its main ally at the height of a U.S. presidential election campaign.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exudes impatience, saying Tehran is barely a year from a "red line" for atomic capacity. Many fellow Israelis, however, fear a unilateral strike, lacking U.S. forces, would fail against such a large and distant enemy.
But what if, even without Washington, Israel were not alone?
Azerbaijan, the oil-rich ex-Soviet republic on Iran's far northern border, has, say local sources with knowledge of its military policy, explored with Israel how Azeri air bases and spy drones might help Israeli jets pull off a long-range attack.


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Iran Could Face "Knockout Blow" on Ballistic Missile Development: Report

Stepped up economic measures against Iran "could yet deal a knock-out blow to the country's development of long-range ballistic missiles," a British think tank said in a report this month (see GSN, July 13).
The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies pointed to U.S. and European measures authorized since December 2011, including an EU embargo on imports of Iranian oil that took effect this month, and U.N. Security Council sanctions dating to June 2010. The penalties were aimed at pushing Tehran to compromise on operations that Western nations fear are intended to produce a nuclear-weapon capability; Iran says its atomic program is aimed only at energy production and other peaceful ends.
"There is mounting evidence to suggest that, whereas the sanctions regime has not prevented Tehran from operating an increased number of centrifuges for uranium-enrichment activities or adding to its stockpile of fissile material, it has stymied efforts to develop and produce the long-range ballistic missiles capable of striking potential targets in western Europe and beyond," according to the IISS report. "If sanctions continue to disrupt Tehran's access to the key propellant ingredients and components needed to produce large solid-propellant rocket motors, Iranian attempts to develop and field long-range ballistic missiles could be significantly impeded, if not halted altogether." 

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Arms dealer jailed in UK over North Korean missile plan

LONDON (Reuters) - A British arms dealer was jailed on Friday for trying to buy surface-to-air missiles from North Korea to sell them to the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan.

British prosecutors described Michael Ranger as an established international arms dealer who used a company registered in Hong Kong under the name of his girlfriend to organize illegal arms deals between the two countries.

Email correspondence read out in court showed that Ranger had boasted to his arms supplier in North Korea that he had been a guest of the Azeri government and was chauffeured in a luxury limousine during a visit to the country to discuss arms sales.

Azerbaijan, an oil-producing Caspian Sea nation bordering Iran, is under an international arms embargo following a 1990s ethnic conflict in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

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